Sunday, December 16, 2007

We are being assaulted by high winds and blasting sheets of rain. The rain is changing back and forth from liquid form to its slightly more solid forms of snow or sleet. This weather is just an inconvenience for most of us, but it always makes me worry about the birds and animals that have few options for getting out of such nasty weather.

Male eastern bluebird giving me the "More suet-dough please!" look.

Our bluebirds are keyed in to the suet dough once again. Perhaps its due to the cold and wet, or maybe they've already eaten all the large, obvious grasshoppers from the meadow. It's clear that the grapes and sumac fruits are rapidly disappearing—mostly down the throats of cedar waxwings, American robins, and European starlings. In any case we're keeping the feeders fully stocked with peanuts, sunflower seed, regular suet, and suet dough.

Having the bluebirds around the house reminds me it's time to winterize the nest boxes—many of which are used nightly by the bluebirds and by downy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, Carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, and Carolina wrens. I'll get the roll of Mortite and warm it up in my pocket as I walk the bluebird trails. A four-inch strip will plug the vent holes at the top of the box keeping wet and cold weather outside and more bird body heat inside the boxes. I like thinking of a pair of bluebirds finding a cozy nighttime roost in a nest box with dry grass on the inside floor and weather-stripped vent holes.

Female eastern bluebird.

This got me thinking about my own ability to escape the winter weather. If I had the means, I'd certainly spend much of the winter in the tropics. Not Florida or Arizona. I mean the serious tropics, where the common blue bird you see is a blue-gray tanager.

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comments:

Great blog. We hung several new birdhouses this summer, so there is nothing inside them. Should be put some dog hairs in them? Or will be birds put something in for themselves? I would love to think they are using them for shelter this winter.

We would love to give our bluebirds suet dough...unfortunately the starlings invariably get to it first and it attracts them to our yard, which every summer successfully hosts Purple Martins, Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds. Starlings are not good for that!! So we spend the big money on mealworms to keep the blues happy over the winter. Ka ching!Love the blog, Bill!

During the blizzard of 03 in DE, I shoveled my way to the feeders and made sure the flocks of red-winged blackbirds were fed. The Eastern Bluebirds found a water source at the heated pond. We do all we can to invite them.

Ah, the birding we'd do if we could just win the lotto! I often imagine doing nothing but birding all day long in some exotic locales--once I find that buried treasure. That blue-gray tanager is stunning.

Great photos, Bill. I'm a little jealous of your wintering nest box residents, though. We built and put up a roost box several years ago, and so far we've had no takers... ever (we have a small infrared camera in there that we check from time to time, and we've never seen any evidence of use, let alone seeing an actual bird). We think there must be something wrong with the box, otherwise why wouldn't they use it on nights when it's frigid outside? Can you offer any insight?

About Bill

Bill of the Birds

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.